OC Auto Blog

WRC is on American TV!!

daveshare — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:24:52 +0000

I have been a fan of rally racing for a long time now. (I mean, it’s off-road racing…..what’s not to like?!?) The only problem is, no American channels cover it. From what I’ve read over the years, the World Rally Championship (WRC) charges too much for the airtime, and the viewer ship isn’t worth the price. Normally this isn’t a big deal, as you can typically find live (or old) streaming video on a specific series website. Well if you want to do this with the WRC, you have to pay a subscription! And it’s not cheap.

Enter “HD Theater” channel from Discovery networks! I’m a fan of this channel because it shows HD versions of some of my favorite shows from the various Discovery networks. As I was watching last week I saw a commercial for weekly WRC coverage! This is exciting folks! I’m in the middle of watching my first race now. It’s super cool, but there a lot of random rules that I have to get used to. Someday I hope to lift my focus and play with it off-road. Until then I’ll watch the tricked out Focus’ on the series tear it up.

Are there any WRC fans out there? Did you know about this? Can you explain these weird rules?!?!?!

Oh, and they’re also showing the “Race of Champions“. I have never even heard of this but apparently it’s been happening for a very long time. Of course we couldn’t get it on TV here. Now we can!!

I never thought I’d say this but….thanks Time Warner!

Posted in FYI, It's FREEEEE!!!, Not Your Normal Vehicle, Racing

Random Conversations With Famous Race Car Drivers

daveshare — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:10:50 +0000

Being that I married into a racing family, I’ve gotten to meet some world famous race car drivers. (Ivan “Ironman” Stewart was at my wedding. I kept pinching myself to see if I was dreaming.) I’ve even formed friendships with a few of them, something I never thought would ever happen. A while back I was having a conversation with a driver (I’ll keep his name out of this post since it contains information that might get him in trouble) and his wife. This isn’t word-for-word, but this is basically how the conversation went down:

Driver: Yeah I actually worked on the pilot episode of Top Gear America, I did some driving for them.

Me: Oh really?? Cool! Were you driving for a challenge or something?

Driver: Well….not really, I can’t really talk about what I did for them.

Me: Wait….Is this the Top Gear part you can’t talk about?? The super secret part no one is supposed to know about?

Driver: *pause* Well……yeah. *He grins*

His Wife: *looks shocked…then smacks his arm* You were The Stig and you didn’t tell me?!?

Driver: Well, remember when I was working on a TV show last April? (Not the exact month, but I can’t remember when they shot)

Wife: Yeah, but you didn’t tell me you were The Stig!

Awesome right??? I was totally shocked, but then I wasn’t surprised it was him, because he’s one of the best at what he does.

If you’re wondering how this relates to Orange County, you might be surprised to know that there are several race car drivers and stunt drivers who live in Orange County. Also, Top Gear America’s test track was at El Toro Marine Base.

I hope they decide to pick up Top Gear America again, cause if they do, I just might get to go watch the cars make a lap or two on the track!

Posted in Just Plain Fun, Local Hero, Racing

Big Orange Gets Bigger!

daveshare — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:40:32 +0000

If you read my Big Orange post over on OC Metblogs, you know how excited I was over the new F-150 Raptor. I didn’t have anything bad to say about it at all. Inside though, I was a little sad that it was only available in an extended cab. I’m someone who likes to drive and when I’m travelling with friends, I like to be the driver. Having had an extended cab before, I know that, while there’s more room than a standard cab, there’s really not enough room for the people in the back to be REALLY comfortable.

Apparently I’m not alone in this feeling. According to this post on LeftLaneNews.com, Ford was getting a lot of requests for a full size crew cab version of the Raptor. It looks like they’ve not only listened to our pleas, but they’ve already begun making the crew cab sized Raptor!!

No word as to when it will be released, but I am SUPER excited. At least I have an excuse to not go into major debt and buy a Raptor…….for now.

Posted in Uncategorized

Catching Up

daveshare — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:52:02 +0000

For those of you who don’t know who I am, or maybe simply haven’t read any of my OC Metblogs posts, I’m providing a list of past stories and reviews I’ve done related to cars and things. You may wonder why I don’t just copy and paste the stories on here. Well, that’s just bad internetiquette. Read!

Long Beach Grand Prix Roundup

Big Orange (The beginning of my obsession with the Raptor)

A Taurus To Save Them All

Just a sample of what’s to come. Enjoy, and I hope you come back for more!

Posted in Cars, FYI, Racing, Trucks, Uncategorized

Welcome to OC Auto Blog!!

daveshare — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:18:23 +0000

This is me in the Ford Raptor. Can you buy me one please??

Welcome to the first post on Orange County’s newest (and only??) automobile aimed blog. My name is David Share. I’ve lived in Orange County for nearly 10 years and love all things auto related! I created this blog to share with the rest of the county, and the world, all the things that go on here behind the Orange Curtain related to cars/trucks/motorcycles/tractors/etc. My hope is that you will read, enjoy and maybe even find the information useful. And please…make me feel useful and leave a comment every now and then. Even if it’s just to say “hi”!

Thanks for being here and I hope you like it!

Posted in Cars, FYI, Trucks